Saffron - Most Expensive Spice In The World

The gold of spice or red gold is the word that some people might call for saffron known for its bright red color and known to be the most expensive spice in the world. The saffron filaments are extracted from the stigma of the flower called crocus sativus linneaus or its short form crocus saffron.

Every flower of the crocus saffron will have 3 stigmata so meaning to say that to produce 1kg of saffron spice will require 150,000 crocus saffron flowers. On top of that to make around 5-7kg of saffron, farmers will also need land the size of a hectare.

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All the processes of extracting the saffron whether it is picking the flower or even taking out the saffron filaments are all done by hand which explains its hefty price tag. The value of saffron in the global market is $16 per gram which is roughly 1/5 of the price of 1 gram of gold.

Whereas in Kashmir, the world's highest quality saffron production, the value of it can reach a whopping $3400 per kilogram. As some people might know, this spice originated from Iran, Mesopotamia, and the Greeks. It then spread to other countries like Spain, France, Italy, and Morocco from the 10th century to the 13th century.

This acknowledgment has made saffron one of the most important spices to be used in local dishes such as paella (Spain), risotto allo zafferano (Italy), bouillabaisse soup (France), and tagine (Mexico).

various dishes using the saffron spice

Today, the main producer of saffron are from countries like Iran, Greece, India, and Morocco with production in Iran representing 85% of the world's saffron production based on a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in 2012.

More than 60 countries around the world knew saffron with different names being used around the world. The Japanese call them safuran, the Indians as kesar, and the Chinese knew them as hong hua.

Saffron came from the Arabic word Za'faran which was taken from the Persian word zarparān which translates to the golden leaves. In the 12th century, the word za'faran was borrowed by the Frenchmen before changing it to the word saffron.

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From that, other words became existence like safranum(Latin), saffron(English), azafran (Spanish), and zafferano(Italian). In ancient times, the Akkadians pronounce them azupiranu.

In fact, it became a name of a city that was once visited by King Sargon (2334-2779 BC) and thus the word za'faran was known to the world as it is being planted, traded, and benefited widely in that particular time.

The presence of za'faran in the ancient Egyptians has been proven through the Ebers papyrus dating from 1,600 BC. That papyrus states the use of za'faran in the medical field.

A similar thing can be said in Greece where za'faran appeared in the frescoe dated in 1,600 BC and 1,500 BC which were located in Knossos and Santorini, Greece. The frescoes pictured the process of extracting crocus sativus as shown below.

Fresco in Greeks harvesting the crocus sativus flower

Za'faran is indeed appreciated by the Greeks to the extent that there was a myth going on about its creator. The myth existed in two versions with both of them involving a mortal man named Crocus.

The first version tells us about Crocus who fell in love with a nymph called Smilax. But because Crocus was devastated, the Greek gods changed him into a plant that shares the same with him, crocus(za'faran).

The second version is about Crocus being the companion of the god Hermes. One day, Hermes accidentally killed Crocus but because of his good service, he was changed into the crocus flower.

Ever since then, za'faran has been used by mankind in various things. Alexander the Great once treated his wound with warm water dipped in za'faran. Cleopatra on the other hand loved to bathe in water filled with za'faran before she met her true love.

In the Roman empire, za'faran is constantly made as a perfume. Whereas in the east part of the world, za'faran is used as a dye for clothes, especially for the Buddha Therevada's monks.

In the middle age, the Christian monks replaced gold with za'faran as colors for their scriptures. Even during the black plague, za'faran was believed to have been used as an antidote. This claim was proven in the John Gerade writings that were published a century later called Generall histories of plants.

Before the eastern world knew about the Opium War, the western parts have first seen the Saffron War.

The war erupted when the demands for saffron in Central and Northern Europe were not able to keep up with the local supplies. This sudden increase was followed by the chains of the black plague. 

Due to the effect of the Crusades, the Muslim supplier from Northern Africa and the Mediterranean refused to supply them. This means that one of the suppliers that can be reached will be the Greeks.

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The high demand for saffron definitely promised insane profits to the suppliers. In fact, it also made saffron one of the commodities being sought. A ship carrying 363kg of saffron(worth more than $500,000) was attacked while on its way to Basel, Switzerland.

The attack went on for 14 weeks and it was known as the Saffron war. Despite the ship being returned to its original owner, the incidents have opened up the act of saffron thievery among the Mediterranean pirates.

This incident has also led to the amendments of the Safranschou code in Nuremberg where the saffron market is tightly regulated. The claim of saffron being the cure to the bubonic plague might just be true or quite the opposite.

One thing that is definite is that saffron is rich in nutritional content beneficial for the body. It possesses high antioxidant properties and can act as an anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, and even stimulate the growth of cells in the body.

This explains why saffron is in high demand and why it is the most expensive spice in the world.

Source:

• Fulton, April. (3 May 2017). This is the World’s Most Expensive Spice. National Geographic.

• Jemma. (27 April 2015). Saffron: The world’s most expensive spice (part 1). Herbology Manchester.

• Mingren, Wu. (24 February 2019). Saffron: Treasured Ancient Spice May Soon Be Gone for Good. Ancient Origins.

• Raman, Ryan. (7 January 2019). 11 Impressive Health Benefits of Saffron. Health Line.

• Sativus. (n.d.) The History of saffron.

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